Terry Brooks

[NeouofPern]

I've currently reading "The Sword of Shannara" by him, and I have to say that I'm quite dissapointed. The ideas taken from The Lord of the Rings are painfully obvious.
1. Allanon- A blatant mixture of Gandalf and Aragorn
2. Shea- The unassuming Frodoesque character
3. The elf stones- When you use them, they call to the "evil dark lord" wizard guy, just like the Ring does.
4. The minions of the evil guy- They're like the Nazgul, and they can "smell" Shea out!
5. The scene with the gnomes healing Shea- Rivendell. That's all there is to say about it.

[Dux]

Unfortuantely Terry Brooks steals a lot for Tolkien. Once you get through his first trilogy he starts running out of things to steal though and they start getting more original. Well, originalish anyway.

[Jax]

Huh, I never made that association before, I suppose that it could be taken that way, but I read it as it's own. I really enjoyed all the Shannara books, not to mention the Landover books!! :heartbeat
Keep readin Neou, they really are different! And entertaining! :D

[granath]

I haven't read any of his original works, but I do like his novelization of The Phantom Menace. It's better than the movie, and while that may not be saying much, it's still something. I did like the book for its own sake.

[Kitsch]

There's also a passage where they're led by Allanon through an underground cavern with buried kings and scary phantoms in it, which is rather similar to going through the Mines of Moria...

[Dawn]

I liked the Shannara books, even if he did take most of it from Tolkien. They were a lot easier to read for me. :tilt: I never could make it through the LotR books.

[Faren]

Unfortuantely Terry Brooks steals a lot for Tolkien. Once you get through his first trilogy he starts running out of things to steal though and they start getting more original. Well, originalish anyway.
What the duck said! :ok:

His last two trilogies (well 1 and a half...he's in the middle of one now) have been very enjoyable. I also thought that reading the prequel, First King of Shannara made the original series a bit less like Tolkein.

[Dux]

What the duck said! :ok:

His last two trilogies (well 1 and a half...he's in the middle of one now) have been very enjoyable. I also thought that reading the prequel, First King of Shannara made the original series a bit less like Tolkein.
I really liked The Scions of Shannara series. He may have stolen some from Tolkien, but many of his creatures are different. His elves are not immortal and all his other creatures are supposedly humans who basically mutated after some cataclysmic event millenia ago.

[AnnMarie]

I really liked The Scions of Shannara series. He may have stolen some from Tolkien, but many of his creatures are different. His elves are not immortal and all his other creatures are supposedly humans who basically mutated after some cataclysmic event millenia ago.
Bingo, Dux!

Reading Brooks, you get the feeling this may be OUR FUTURE (Well, I did anyhow. Sorta like when I read "Wolf King") Reading Toilkin, it's so obviously a diferent reality entirely.

[Faren]

Bingo, Dux!

Reading Brooks, you get the feeling this may be OUR FUTURE (Well, I did anyhow. Sorta like when I read "Wolf King") Reading Toilkin, it's so obviously a diferent reality entirely.
I agree with that too. I read the Scions series before I read the first three, so I didn't realize that there had been a nuclear war in the distant past that had caused much of the mutations. I also like the fact that he's not afraid to kill off major characters. Some of them I knew were coming, but others just caught me so off-guard and I was devastated. :cry:

I'm ready for a new book. :bouncy:

[Faren]

I am resurrecting this thread from two years ago!!

Probably should have just started a new one, but whatever. If you've read Brooks's Word and Void series (Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word,
and Angel Fire East), you should know that he started a "bridge series" called "Genesis of Shannara". It begins with "Armageddon's Children", which is absolutely wonderful, and his latest "The Elves of Cintra". There'll be a 3rd book next year.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has read, wants to read or intends to read this series. It's dark and frightening, but you can see now how Shannara came to be. Very interesting, I think.

[-H-]

I've only recently been introduced to the work of Terry Brooks, but i've quickly become hooked.

I was lucky enough to meet and chat to him at Dragon Con this year, and i must say he was a very very nice chap (his wife was incredibly patient too ;)) he even consented to a quick chat with a friend of mine by phone, who was back in home in england (Tim introduced me to Terry Brooks).

I have nothing bad to say about Mr Brooks or his Books.

[Brenda]

Did he write the "Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold" books? I read those one time and enjoyed them... I think I considered starting the Shannara books but the size of the series was off-putting to me at the time.

[Dux]

He did write the Magic Kingdom series. That was the one that I started off with too. I like the Shanara ones better though. The series is quite long, but they are like Anne's books. Smaller series all about the same world. The first series are actually three separate stories. While they are meant to be read as a set, they can be stand alone books too. After that you jump forward in time a couple of hundred years for the next series. Then you jump another 80 years for the next one. Then there are the pre-quels, the future ones and the ancient history ones.


There's a lot there, but you do get hooked.